FPL Ranks for Game Week 25

It’s always tempting to get excited about January transfers but here’s a pitcher of ice water for your nether regions: none of these guys matter. Until they do. And even then, they probably don’t. Sure, they’ll one or maybe two 20 point performances, but trust them at your peril.

Joao Mario – his most natural position would be the one currently held by Lanzini, unless Moyes tries him out of position like so many other failed attempts to turn centrally inclined Portuguese footballers into wingers. I say this as a Bernardo owner, so spare me the indignation.

Jurgen Locadia – talented attacking player in his mid-20s, you say? Hmm, sounds like Izquierdo, another nice player whose fantasy ceiling is approximately two feet high because Brighton’s prospects for SkyBet football next year have never been higher.

Cenk Tosun – look, I own him and wasted a waiver pick, but whatever value he has for Everton won’t be realized in the next few months. Talk to me in September when Bolasie and Walcott are fully fit and playing regularly.

Who else? Terence Kongolo, Alex Pritchard, Guido Carrillo? Come on, stop kidding yourselves. Feel free to @ me on Twitter to call me crazy, but you know who I’m kinda excited by? None other than a Stoke fullback, Moritz Bauer. I also own Zouma so I don’t wanna get too cute with the St. Paul Lambert narrative, but Bauer likes to get involved in the attack and has most likely put an unceremonious end to Glen Johnson’s career.

Let’s get started.

Studs: Nobody predicted this when he failed to catch fire with Bolton Wanderers, then Fiorentina, and even, yikes, Sunderland of all godforsaken clubs. And not many people predicted a repeat of 2016-2017. Yet, here we are, in GW25, and Marcos Alonso is 60 points clear at the top of the defenders pecking order and coming off singlehandedly tearing the hearts from many a Magpie with another assist and another stunning free kick. Now, the question remains: will we count him out next year with Emerson Palmieri entering the picture?

Duds: Sometimes, I feel compelled to rank players and it sickens me, none worse than tax fraud specialist Glenn Murray. The truth is that he’s far more likely to put up 0.5 or 3 points than 15 because he’s an old and one-dimensional poacher playing for a 2nd tier club. But I have to rank him, which means some of you are likely starting him, which means I feel bad for you, which means he’ll probably shin one in off the post, pick up a dubious penalty, and bag a brace. Oh, fantasy.

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

1

Jordan Pickford

Marcos Alonso

Kevin De Bruyne

Sergio Aguero

2

Ederson

Cesar Azpilicueta

Eden Hazard

Mohamed Salah

3

Lukasz Fabianski

Nicolas Otamendi

Riyad Mahrez

Roberto Firmino

4

David De Gea

Kyle Walker

Paul Pogba

Raheem Sterling

5

Thibaut Courtois

Hector Bellerin

David Silva

Alexander Lacazette

6

Nick Pope

Victor Moses

Mesut Ozil

Alexis Sanchez

7

Petr Cech

Antonio Valencia

Sadio Mane

Harry Kane

8

Hugo Lloris

Ben Davies

Christian Eriksen

Romelu Lukaku

9

Jack Butland

Nacho Monreal

Xherdan Shaqiri

Jamie Vardy

10

Karl Darlow

Virgil Van Dijk

Oxlade-Chamberlain

Christian Benteke

11

Loris Karius

Shkodran Mustafi

Heung-Min Son

Richarlison

12

Adrian

John Stones

Bernardo Silva

Michy Batshuayi

13

Kasper Schmeichel

Andrew Robertson

Wilfried Zaha

Cenk Tosun

14

Mat Ryan

James Tarkowski

J. Berg Gudmundsson

Mame Diouf

15

Julian Speroni

Harry Maguire

Abdoulaye Doucoure

Shane Long

16

Alex McCarthy

Laurent Koscielny

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Joshua King

17

Heurelho Gomes

Kieran Trippier

Dusan Tadic

Callum Wilson

18

Jonas Lossl

Kurt Zouma

Gylfi Sigurdsson

Chicharito

19

Asmir Begovic

Ben Mee

Jesse Lingard

Jordan Ayew

20

Ben Foster

Antonio Rudiger

Marc Albrighton

Ashley Barnes

21

Moritz Bauer

Pascal Gross

Dwight Gayle

22

Joel Matip

N'Golo Kante

Wayne Rooney

23

Joseph Gomez

Aaron Mooy

Joselu

24

Phil Jones

Choupo-Moting

Peter Crouch

25

Ryan Bertrand

Fernandinho

Glenn Murray

26

Andreas Christensen

Bakary Sako

27

Jan Vertonghen

Jack Wilshere

28

Ryan Shawcross

Junior Stanislas

29

Pablo Zabaleta

Joao Mario

30

Jonjoe Kenny

Emre Can

31

Joel Ward

Joe Allen

32

Christian Fuchs

Cheikh Kouyate

33

Jamaal Lascelles

Steven Defour

34

Davinson Sanchez

Luka Milivojevic

35

Ben Chilwell

Jordon Ibe

36

Christopher Smalling

Ashley Young

37

Shane Duffy

Pedro Obiang

38

Deandre Yedlin

Granit Xhaka

39

Angelo Ogbonna

Andros Townsend

40

Kyle Naughton

Wilfried Ndidi

This season, our weekly fantasy Premier League ranks are a one-man affair, with Benji Wade taking over the mantle. You can find him on Twitter: Follow @benjiwade.